'Bribe' in Argentine cash affair

President Chavez publicly endorsed Ms Fernandez's campaign

US prosecutors say a man who tried to fund an election campaign in Argentina with Venezuelan money was offered $2m (£1m) to hide the source of the cash.

The bribe was made to Guido Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan-American, by four men accused of acting as illegal agents of Venezuela, a court in Miami heard.

Mr Wilson was stopped in August carrying $800,000 (£400,000) in cash.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner rejects allegations that the money was due to fund her campaign.

Venezuela has also rejected the accusations as a "fabricated scandal".

Correspondents say the affair is a political test for Mrs Kirchner, who was sworn in as president last week.

'Undeclared agents'

This president may be a woman, but she will not allow anyone to pressure her Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

The criminal complaint against the four men on trial in Miami - three Venezuelans and a Uruguayan - said that "neither the true source nor the intended recipient of those cash funds had been disclosed".

Prosecutors say the defendants were undeclared agents and held meetings in Florida with Mr Antonini Wilson, in an attempt to pressure him to hide the source of the money and its destination.

Mr Antonini Wilson was part of a delegation flown in to Buenos Aires by the Argentine government on a private jet in August.

Argentine customs officials discovered the cash in his suitcase, and issued an extradition warrant when he later fled to the US.

The businessman is not accused of any crime by the American prosecutors.